By Debbie Schlussel
. . . “Jonestown: Paradise Lost,” at 9 p.m. Eastern, on the History Channel. “Paradise”? Kind of a misnomer, even had Jim Jones’ multiple, deluded victims lived. Hey, Kool-Aid!
I feel sorry for the kids who innocently imbibed and for Congressman Leo Ryan (D-California), whose “crime” was going to Guyana in November 1978 to investigate what was going on. He rescued those Americans who wanted to leave Jones’ cult, but was shot by Jones’ armed guards while boarding the plane. He was a liberator and a hero.
In case you didn’t figure it out, this bizarre story/tragedy is where the phrase, “Drinking the Kool-Aid,” comes from. A marketing nightmare the drink never fully overcame, or as Detroit Free Press TV Critic Mike Duffy calls it, “Recalling the worst ad ever for Kool-Aid.”